Santa Clara County schools send out more than 1,000 layoff notices

San Jose Community Day School Teachers Jesse Soza, works with students in Jose Arteaga, 14, history group in his mixed grade classroom in San Jose Thursday March 12, 2009. Soza was given a pink slip last week and will find out in May whether he can stay on or not.

More than 1,000 South Bay teachers, administrators and school workers received warnings this week that they could be laid off — more than double the number who received such notices last year.

While the economy and state budget crisis are largely to blame, there's another factor: More older educators are delaying retirement, forcing districts to make deeper cuts of younger staff.

"Everyone is nervous about the economy, and everyone wants to keep working," said attorney Sandra Woliver of Miller Brown & Dannis, a law firm representing several South Bay districts.

The East Side Union High School District, which normally has about 50 teachers giving retirement notice by this time of the year, has heard from fewer than 10. In the Oak Grove School District, not only is the number of prospective retirees at an all-time low, but two or three retired teachers have asked the district about returning to work, according to KC Walsh, president of the Oak Grove Educators Association.

Senior teachers hanging on to their jobs translates into more program and personnel cuts for strapped schools. State law requires each district to notify teachers by March 15 that they might not be rehired in June, and to send decisive letters by May 15. The law is less strict regarding support staff, so many districts will decide in the spring whether to lay off clerks, aides and maintenance workers.

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Of Santa Clara County's 32 school districts, at least 15 are not planning to lay off permanent teachers.

The California Teachers Association estimates that statewide, more than 27,000 pink slips will go out by Sunday, compared with 10,000 last year. Massive rallies, including a demonstration at the Eastridge mall, are planned for today, and state Superintendent Jack O'Connell will attend a news conference in San Jose to address the layoff notices.

"In the past, school districts have been able to capitalize on attrition," said Margurite Roza of the Center on Reinventing Public Education in Seattle. "This is the first time that districts will really be doing large-scale layoffs."

Roza warns that because teacher layoffs are primarily based on seniority — last hired, first fired — the number of layoffs will worsen. That's because since younger, newer teachers earn far less than older ones, more layoffs will be necessary to achieve the budget savings districts need.

Districts won't know until June exactly how many people might retire.

"The economic bad times have hit all of us," said David Sanchez, president of the California Teachers Association. "More of our teachers who would typically retire at age 56 aren't."

Though teachers can rely on guaranteed pensions, plummeting retirement savings and home values along with their spouses' job uncertainties have persuaded many to stay in the classroom.

Some hoping to retire may be holding out for a carrot. "I think some teachers are hopeful that there will be some kind of retirement incentive, but you do incentives when times are good, not when times are bad," said Marissa Hanson of the East Side Teachers Association.

But even when offered incentives, teachers are not coming forward. Only seven teachers have accepted Palo Alto Unified's retirement incentive so far. "More people say they are going to postpone retirement given the current situation," said Assistant Superintendent Scott Bowers. "You know the joke about 401(k)s being 201(k)s? I think people are extending their work plans for a few more years."

San Jose Unified has sent 255 layoff notices to teachers, the vast majority of whom have been with the district for just one or two years and do not yet have "permanent status.'' Math, science, bilingual and special education teachers, who are always in short supply, have been spared. In addition, the county's largest district sent pink slips to 166 administrators.

"I got my letter in the mail," said Jesse Soza, 27, who is in his second year of teaching at the San Jose Community Day School. "I'm trying to find another teaching job, but with the economy the way it is, good luck."

The 11-school East Side Union High School District this week decided to notify 129 teachers, plus 116 support staff and about 20 administrators.

The Mountain View-Los Altos High School District sent pink slips to the entire staff of its adult-education program. The state will trim payments for adult ed by 20 percent next year, in a last-minute deal as part of the long budget negotiations in Sacramento. The Mountain View-Los Altos district didn't have enough time to decide how to retool its program, so all 119 teachers received just-in-case notices, Associate Superintendent Steven Hope said.

All districts could later rescind many of the layoffs if, for instance, money from the federal stimulus bill trickles down to schools. But local educators still don't know how much of Uncle Sam's largesse they'll reap — and besides, it's only one-time money. Adding to the confusion, districts will have to make more cuts if the budget propositions in the state's special election don't pass in May.

The Los Altos School District is sending layoff notices to nearly 20 teachers, part of an aggressive plan to cut $2.3 million from its budget. The district isn't counting on stimulus funds, Assistant Superintendent Randy Jones said. "That should keep us solvent for the next six years," he said. "We're trying to put ourselves in a good place so we don't have to keep cutting every year."